AgWorld Chapter 455
Chapter 455
Gu Manor, Main Hall.
Except for Gu Lanzhi from the fourth branch, three generations of the Gu family were all present.
Even the younger generation who were on duty had been called back. They were initially resentful, but seeing their grandfather serving tea and water, lowering his posture into the dust, they were all secretly alarmed.
One must know that as a former Prime Minister, he wouldn't act like this even when facing the Emperor.
They couldn't help but secretly peek up, only to see two equally peerless faces, one young and one older, both surrounding a woman.
"Mother! Look at him, yelling again!"
"So what if I yell at you? I asked you to do a little thing and you dawdled. If this were in the military camp, you would have been rewarded with thirty army strokes long ago!"
"You also know 'if', so what about 'if not' now?"
"Yun Lang!"
The father and son fought fiercely, their eyes red with anger. The Princess Consort rubbed her temples, "Enough."
With just one light sentence, the two sat down to sulk, not daring to say another word.
The Princess Consort smiled helplessly at Gu Sun, "The father and son are at odds, making a joke of themselves in front of you."
Gu Sun said, flattered and alarmed, "You are too polite, Princess Consort! His Highness and the Young Master are both heroes of our time. To be able to meet them is Gu Sun's great fortune, how would I dare to laugh?"
If they hadn't heard it with their own ears, the Gu family descendants would have thought their patriarch had been possessed.
At this time, Gu Lanzhi arrived late with Xuewu and Gu Hongzhang.
"Father, what kind of distinguished guest must we meet right now?"
He had barely complained a sentence when he was startled by the room full of people.
Immediately following a loud slap, his own father actually backhanded him: "Bastard! In front of His Highness, how dare you be so insolent!"
Gu Lanzhi was slapped silly. Xuewu hurriedly knelt down: "Father-in-law, please don't be angry. It's all Xuewu's fault for delaying the Fourth Master and making him late..."
Gu Sun snorted coldly, not even looking at her.
What kind of occasion was this? Not bringing the legal wife but bringing a concubine, yet for the sake of the Gu family's face, he couldn't expose her.
"Hurry up and apologize to His Highness!"
Gu Lanzhi then hurriedly brought Xuewu forward: "This, Your Highness, Lanzhi has offended you, please forgive me!"
After speaking, he was about to bow down, but saw the Princess Consort speak with interest: "The lady beside Fourth Master Gu, she shouldn't be the legal wife, right?"
Everyone's hearts jumped. Xuewu was also stunned, not understanding how she could tell.
Gu Lanzhi rolled his eyes and said: "Xuewu is indeed not the legal wife, but she is my favored concubine. Today, my legal wife is ill and it's inconvenient for her to see guests, so I brought her here to see the world..."
"Oh?" The Princess Consort lifted her lips in a half-smile, "The Gu family's world is indeed unusual."
These words shamed Gu Sun so much he almost wanted to find a hole to hide in.
The Gu family had always boasted of strict family management. Now that they made such a fool of themselves, what face did he have left to see people?
He immediately shouted angrily: "Why haven't you rolled back yet?"
Gu Lanzhi meekly agreed, but Gu Hongzhang said loudly: "Grandfather! Mother is not worthy of being Father's legal wife, Aunt Xuewu is!"
The whole hall was in an uproar.
The Gu family more or less knew that the fourth branch favored the concubine and neglected the wife, but privately, they would at most be talked about a bit. Now that it was brought out in the open, it was a completely different scene!
Old Madam Gu shouted: "Who taught you such bastard words? A mother is a mother, how can a concubine occupy the position of the main wife?"
Gu Hongzhang shuddered in fear. He originally wanted to speak out against the injustice for Aunt Xuewu, but he didn't expect to attract such a severe reprimand!
Xuewu also knew that things had blown up today, and hurriedly knelt down and slapped herself a few times: "It's all Xuewu's fault. It was Xuewu who pestered the Fourth Master to come. It has nothing to do with the Fourth Master!"
Gu Lanzhi was also clear-headed now, kneeling down and saying: "Your Highness, Father, I know I was wrong. I will send her back immediately!"
After speaking, he was about to call someone over, when the Princess Consort suddenly said: "Since you're already here, just listen along."
After speaking, she glanced at her husband. The Prince Regent flicked his sleeves and said: "Which of you has Yun Zihao? Hand him over."
Everyone looked at each other in dismay. Only Gu Lanzhi and Xuewu had panic flash in their eyes.
Gu Sun cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness, Xie Zhizhou from the Wardens' Office of the Five Cities has already come to ask earlier. The Gu family truly does not know the whereabouts of this rebel."
The Prince Regent snorted coldly, raising his hand and grabbing Gu Lanzhi to him: "I have no patience. Where is he?"
Gu Lanzhi was terrified, pointing outside and about to speak, when suddenly there was the sound of a gong ringing continuously.
A Gu family servant ran in hurriedly: "My Lord, this is bad! The Fourth Master's courtyard is on fire!"
In Gu Lanzhi's courtyard, thick smoke rolled.
When the group arrived, the fire had almost swallowed up more than half of the houses.
"What happened? Why did it suddenly catch fire?" Gu Sun grabbed a servant who was putting out the fire and asked.
The servant cried: "This lowly one doesn't know either! It was just the woodshed that suddenly caught fire. I heard the Madam's brother is still inside!"
Gu Sun was shocked and hurriedly wanted to send people to rescue him.
But he heard the Princess Consort beside him call softly: "Langlang."
Yun Lang didn't want to move at first, but since his mother called his name, he had to pinch his nose and rush into the fire.
The Prince Regent raised his eyebrows in satisfaction: "That's right, Qing'er, you should order him around more."
The Princess Consort shook her head. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Yun Lang carried a person out from inside.
His hands and feet were crippled, and his right eye was blind. It was none other than Yue Qianzhong.
He was wrapped in a wet cotton quilt, and his mouth and nose were tied with a wet handkerchief. As soon as he was free, he yanked it off and rushed into the fire.
Gu Sun cried: "Nephew Yue, what are you doing!"
Yue Qianzhong's eyes were bloodshot. He glared fiercely at Gu Lanzhi and Xuewu behind him: "My sister is still inside... I have to go save her!"
"What? Why would Madam Yue be in the woodshed for no reason?" Gu Sun was baffled, while Gu Lanzhi felt extremely guilty.
Yue Qianzhong lifted a bucket of water and poured it all over his body. Just as he was about to rush in, he was stopped by Yun Lang's arm.
"Get out of the way!"
"It's no use." Yun Lang parted his lips lightly, a trace of pity in his peach-blossom eyes. "I just checked. Other than you, there is no one alive inside."
Yue Qianzhong's face turned completely pale, and he shouted violently again: "Get out of the way!!"
Yun Lang glanced at his crippled left leg: "Old Du, help make a trip."
Shopkeeper Du complied, rushed into the fire, and carried a person out a moment later.
It was Madam Yue.
She wasn't burned severely, but an axe wound on her neck was already fatal.
Obviously, she had hacked herself not long after the fire started, because she didn't want to experience the pain of burning to death.
Yue Qianzhong suddenly fell to his knees, letting out a hysterical roar from his throat.
He thought that by compromising and suffering in silence, he could trade for his eldest sister's safety.
But in the end, he was wrong.
"Gu, Lan, Zhi!"
Calling out the culprit's name word by word, the latter hurriedly yelled: "It has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with me! She committed suicide!"
Yue Qianzhong didn't listen at all, grabbing a stone beside him and suddenly shooting it out.
Bang!
The stone accurately hit the center of his brows, and Gu Lanzhi fell straight down.
Before the Gu family could cry out in grief, they saw him look towards Gu Hongzhang with bloodshot eyes again.
"Nephew Yue! Stop, he is your nephew!"
Gu Sun shouted in shock. Yue Qianzhong raised the corners of his mouth quite bizarrely: "Nephew?"
Gu Sun's heart went cold. Even though Yue Qianzhong was crippled, someone who came out of the Wardens' Office of the Five Cities was not someone they could stop.
He immediately shouted: "Your Highness! I beg you to stop him!"
The Prince Regent crossed his arms leisurely: "Family matters, why should I care?"
Gu Hongzhang was terrified out of his wits. Crying, he shouted, "Uncle, Uncle! Zhang'er knows his mistakes! Zhang'er knows his mistakes!"
Yue Qianzhong lowered his gaze. "Since you know your mistakes, go to the underworld and apologize to your mother."
The moment blood spurted into the air, Gu Sun's vision went dark and he fainted.
The flames continued to rage, the blood continued to flow, and absolute chaos reigned all around them.
Yue Qianzhong finally uttered a name: "Xuewu."
Xuewu had far more backbone than Gu Lanzhi and his son. She stared at him for a moment before sneering, "What a fierce Madam Yue, to actually think of using a fire to draw people out."
This fire did not just burn down Gu Lanzhi's courtyard; it also completely exposed Yun Zihao's hiding place.
Sure enough, from the adjacent houses where the flames had spread, Yun Zihao was carried out on a stretcher.
He was unable to move his limbs, yet his gaze was sinister and full of venom. Upon seeing the Regent, he raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Royal Uncle, it has been a long time."